Week Blog: Hot Tempers, Cool Weather

Blame it all on Punxsutawney Phil. The little rodent sees his shadow on Monday morning and everyone’s mood sours. Sure enough, by Tuesday night I’m out shoveling more snow. And I’m mad.

Not Batman-raving mad, but definitely something north of plain-vanilla peed off. For one thing, there’s Phil’s droppings all over my driveway. Then, there’s the report card with two F’s and a D that’s pinned to my fridge and belongs to my college-hopeful son. Topping it all, there’s the Steelers’ Super Bowl parade, and I’ve found the minute-by-minute account a more effective self-torture than the one that albino used in The Da Vinci Code. BTW, if you’re one of those Ordway types who gets peeved when fans implant themselves as part of their teams, Behind The Steel Curtain doesn’t care; they’ve condoned the use of ‘we’ and ‘our’ in referring to their six-time champions.

My driveway notwithstanding, New York is the Mecca of anger this week. As you’d figure, most is directed to author Joe Torre as The Yankee Years hit the shelves on Tuesday. Pinstriped Bible jumped off the Torre bandwagon years ago, while the Yankee half of YFSF doesn’t worship at the alter of St. Joe. Joel Sherman’s Hardball advises everyone to take one of Joe’s Calm Bombs. Ken Davidoff’s Baseball Insider says that, judging by the lines outside NY bookstores, Yankee fans sure can hide their anger. Lisa has been trashing Torre over on Subway Squawkers, so I popped in to offer Yankee Fan a reason to embrace Torre and his masterful tell-all.

Down in Philly, Depressed Fan is steamed that Ray Allen got off a clean shot to beat the Sixers on Tuesday, 100-99. Red’s Army says Sixer fans should be mad at Thaddeous Young for getting lost on that one. The always amusing Comments From The Other Side over at Loy’s Place offers more venim spewn on Philly by its own fans.

Moving on, the despised Lakers are in town tonight. This just in: Lakers forward Trevor Ariza hates the C’s, but still looks smokin’ in his McHale jersey. The towel boy still hates Sasha Vujacic, as our own Kevin Henkin reminds us on Celtics Stuff Live.

Ball Don’t Lie has the introduction of another opportunity for a C to make this year’s All-Star Game. Fernsten’s Follies is not afraid of the Miami Heat sweeping Stephon Marbury away from Boston.

Bruins & NHL

The Bear Cave sizes up the Philadelphia Flyers, whom the B’s hadn’t seen all season.

From injured back to Nickelback, Naoko Funayama covers the spectrum with Manny Fernandez. Kynch’s Korner explores some trading deadline options for the B’s. Kathryn Tappen is happy the B’s will not have to take on either the Caps or Devils in the first round of this spring’s playoffs. The Big Bad Bruins have advanced beyond the playoffs to hand out some zany awards specifically designed for our B’s. And Stanley Cup of Chowder has their own B’s award that they name after . . . a Boston Celtic?

Plenty of bad feelings in Vancouver, where Pierre LeBrum says the Cannucks are down on Shane O’Brien and O’Brien is fuming with them. And Puck Daddy looks at hockey fans desecrating their own jerseys to vent the considerable anger building in rinks around the country.

Red Sox & MLB

We sure are a tight-knit community of baseball bloggers. Red Sox Monster keeps a keen eye on Schilling with a passion that makes me wonder, do we have our own SWF complex here in Boston? The Soxaholix characters go after everyone’s fav at the Globe, while The Joy of Sox laments the passing of one of our own as Baseball Toaster gets unplugged.

The Bottom Line looks at the WBC’s effects on participants three years ago and wonders how our boys will do this season. The Tek signing (yes, there has to be one obligatory mention each week!) crushes Fire Brand of the American League‘s dream. Sox and Dawgs is following the soap-operatic developments in the construction of a new Ft. Myers training facility.

Big League Stew has Manny Ramirez rejecting the Dodgers’ $25 million offer. Anyone else convinced he’s got a safety net personally woven by Brian Cashman? Clearing The Bases isn’t sure if $25 million is enough for Ramirez, but it sure sounds like enough to buy some of Tom Brady’s cream for those hamstrings. Raising Athletes is real down on Manny after his latest Dodger diss. Boston Sports Blog isn’t showing much love for him or, for that matter, his superagent. Boston Dirt Dogs has a place in mind for Manny. Caught Off The Wall advises us not to hold our collective breath waiting for an MLB salary cap.

Patriots & NFL

Matt Cassel is not so much pissed off as pissed on. Not to worry. One If By Land has several teams that would take him, urine-stained pants and all. Patriots Blog has Cassel clueless as to his destination in 2009. And even though today opens franchise-tagging season, Reiss’s Pieces tells us not to look for an answer on Cassel soon.

Shutdown Corner brings us a little anger from MoTown, where a local station hates on former Lions prez Matt Millen in a rather resourceful way. And the Pro Bowl may be wrapping up the 2008 season this Sunday, but it will be back to work soon enough. The Crowe’s Nest looks at the NFL’s 2009 strength-of-schedule and guess who has the third toughest?

How about you? If you’ve got a bone to pick, I’ll be your ear at bob02878@yahoo.com. If you’re a blogger who’s been neglected, please let me know but before you do, make sure you follow Jim Rome’s two rules: have a take and don’t suck. If you pass that, I’d love to hear from you. See you next Thursday.

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Published by Bruce Allen

4 thoughts on “Week Blog: Hot Tempers, Cool Weather”

I’ve never had a problem with people who use the word “we” when refering to their teams……I do it alot myself….YES,I KNOW I’M NOT ON THE TEAM!….just more media bullshit, another way for them to talk down to the fans…..so let me see if I got this right. According to the allmighty Boston Sports Media. Saying “we” when refering to our teams is a bad thing…..wearing team jerseys (unless 12 years old or younger) is a bad thing…..saying positive things about your team is a bad thing (Fanboy!, Rumpswab! Pom-pom waver!)……..gee Allmighty-allknowing sports Media, can’t we just have a little fun?…..afterall, your own Dale Arnold has lectured me many, many times that sports are the “Toy Department of Life” what a wise man!…….bunch of jerkweeds

If you say “we” on the Big Show, Ordway will ask you what position you play.

Another angry fellow is Tom Verducci after he discovered Felger didn’t read his book before interviewing him. Felg says he has too many jobs. I’m wondering, can’t Underwood just read to him over the cell phone while he’s driving back from Mohegan Sun every night?

exactly, Ordway might be joking around/busting balls but after the 4,000th time it gets annoying…..when people say,”we” it’s not like it’s a conscious thought. If your an old bastard like me and have been following these teams for decades “we” just comes out……..whatever…..the Boston Sports media is great at being annoying